This is a gorgeous illustrated hardback of the award-winning novel complete with added interviews with author, illustrator director and cast and photos from the production.
Grown from an original idea by Siobhan Dowd and beautifully illustrated by Jim Kay, Patrick Ness’s extraordinary A Monster Calls has already won numerous awards and earned universal praise. There is now a major film coming and this is the tie-in. So I’ve come to this shamefully late and can only confirm that it deserves every award, every word of praise. Written for any reader this is a truly universal story of stubborn love, terrible loss and wild magic. Books rarely make me cry but I was often in tears reading this book.
It tells the story of Conor, a school boy whose mother is ill with cancer, whose father has left, whose grandmother is forbidding. He is defensive, angry and lonely at school. And then one night a monster calls – a massive walking and talking tree who takes Conor on a terrifying journey. But little is as it first seems in this story. And it is stories that become the lifeblood of this novel. Wild stories that tell the truth. Ness is brilliant at giving the reader room to feel for themselves the pain of his characters – he doesn’t direct you he just shows you what is happening and trusts you to empathise. This story is heartbreaking, profoundly scary yet also wildly affirming about the power of truth, friendship and love. If you grew up thrilling to the darkness of Dahl, enjoyed the humanity of Mark Haddon’s books this is for you. But really I think this is for everyone. It’s just superb. ~ Simon Spanton
A Monster Calls: Special Collector's Edition Synopsis
In this special collector's edition, discover Patrick Ness's original prize-winning illustrated novel and the remarkable story behind the book and film.
In exclusive essays and interviews, read how Patrick Ness created a modern classic, and discover Jim Kay's previously unseen sketches for the book. Hear from acclaimed director J.A. Bayona, and go behind the scenes with actors Liam Neeson, Sigourney Weaver and Felicity Jones to find out how the film was made. Full of never before published material and haunting pictures, this stunning edition gives a fascinating and unique insight into the making of both the book and film. A must for all fans.
Patrick Ness was born on an army base called Fort Belvoir, near Alexandria, Virginia, in the United States. His father was a drill sergeant in the US Army. He lived in Hawaii until he was almost six, spent the ten years after that in suburban Washington state, and then on to Los Angeles, where he studied English Literature at the University of Southern California.
His main job after graduating was as corporate writer at a cable company, writing manuals, form letters and speeches and once even an advertisement for the Gilroy, California Garlic Festival (this is true). If you're American and hated your cable company, he probably wrote you a letter of apology.
He got his first story published in Genre magazine in 1997 and was working on his first novel when he moved to London in 1999. He's lived here ever since. Sometimes he teaches creative writing but mostly he tries to write 1,000 words a day, 'come hell or high water'.
In May 2008, he published The Knife of Never Letting Go, his first book for young adults. It won the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize and the Booktrust Teenage Prize and he hasn't looked back since. Click here to read a Q&A with Patrick.
10 Things You Didn't Know About Patrick Ness
1. He has a tattoo of a rhinoceros. 2. He has run two marathons. 3. He is a certified scuba diver. 4. He wrote a radio comedy about vampires. 5. He has never been to New York City but... 6. He has been to Sydney, Auckland and Tokyo. 7. He got accepted into film school but turned it down to study writing. 8. He was a goth as a teenager (well, as much of a goth as you could be in Tacoma, Washington and still have to go to church every Sunday). 9. He is no longer a goth. 10. Under no circumstances will he eat onions.
